Friday September 23, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 12:21 pm]
Posted by Island Social Trends
Some big child care savings were announced today.
Since the start of the Horgan BC Government in July 2017, the cost of child care has been a central plank and promise.
The key impacts of child care support include affordability, quality, and access and inclusion.
Now, as of December 1, 2022, some new child care savings for BC families will kick in, as announced today by Minister of Education and Child Care Jennifer Whiteside.
“BC has been working hard to make child care a core service,” said Whiteside today in her 10:30 am livestreamed announcement.
BC Minister of State for Child Care Katrina Chen commended child care providers for all their work in the sector.
Today the federal child care minister Karina Gould was on hand, hearing Whiteside thanking the federal government for their contribution to child care cost support. She noted that BC was the first province to sign on for the five-year federal supports.
Gould described child care as a “home run” for families. She called the funding as “inflationary-fighting”, and compared the significance of up to $900 per month to families as “revolutionary”, along the lines of medicare was decades ago.
Up to $550 per month in savings:
Working with child care providers, the child care fees will be cut by as much as $550 more per month, as announced today.
This is on top of existing fee reductions. Families of children in participating child care centres can save up to $900 per month for the most expensive types of care.
Who is eligible?
Providers offering 96% of eligible child care spaces are participating in cutting fees.
Parents of all incomes with children in kindergarten and younger at participating child care centres will see these savings on their bills in December. It is not necessary for parents to apply.
The fee reductions will reach families of about 69,000 children, the Ministry said today.
Lower and middle-income families continue to be eligible for income-based support through the Affordable Child Care Benefit.
Five things for parents to know:
There are five things the BC Government wants parents to know:
- Parents will see licenced child care costs cut by up to $550 more every month for kids in Kindergarten and younger.
- More parents will benefit from more $10-a-day child care spaces, which will nearly double by December 2022.
- 96% of kids in eligible licensed child care centres in BC qualify for these savings. Parents do not need to apply.
- Families with income up to $111,000 per year can access the Affordable Child Care Benefit, which (when stacked with other fee cuts) could mean zero child care costs.
- Parents with kids in Kindergarten and younger will be paying an average of $21 a day for licensed child care by the end of 2022. That’s down from an average of $53 a day before any ChildCareBC supports.
===== GOVERNMENT LINKS:
For more information on the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, including participating providers: www.gov.bc.ca/savemoney-childcare
For more information on ChildCareBC: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare
Toward $10-a-day: www.canada.ca/child-care
For more information on $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites and spaces: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare10aDaysites
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